DALLAS, TX — (Marketwired) — 07/18/13 — A peer-reviewed research study in the calls into question the effectiveness of certain diabetes monitoring practices that solely target individuals who already have high A1c levels and recommends that providers take a population health management approach for improving diabetes care.
Diabetes is a common chronic condition and one of the leading causes of disability and death in the United States. It is also one of the most expensive chronic conditions — costing more than $245 billion a year in direct and indirect costs — because of serious complications that result in hospitalization and the intensive use of other healthcare resources. Improving management of diabetes and other chronic diseases is critical for success within emerging value-based and pay-for-performance payment models, which tie provider reimbursement to health standards for entire populations.
“We think this study breaks new ground with findings that are of particular interest to organizations that are trying to improve care of their diabetic population in the face of value-based reimbursement and accountable care,” said Richard Hodach, MD, co-author of the study and chief medical officer at .
Researchers at Phytel reached their findings after analyzing lab results and billing data for 23,000 patients with diabetes over three consecutive year-long periods. A few of the key highlights include:
Despite national attention, uncontrolled diabetes is a growing problem. There is sizable turnover in the uncontrolled population from year to year, indicating that new patients take the place of those that graduate to a lower A1c result.
More than half (57.5 percent) of patients have their first 9+ score on their first test.
For all patients, the longer the interval between tests, the greater the probability that the next test result will be 9+.
“Current diabetes health improvement efforts that focus only on acute patients are missing opportunities to improve diabetes care,” said Ted Courtemanche, MHA, a study co-author and vice president of analytics and outcomes for Phytel. “The real risks are the patients who wait to seek care until their condition is exacerbated to an acute phase. A broader population-based approach — beyond just focusing on the current 9-plus cohort — will be required to catch two categories of at-risk patients: those who have uncontrolled scores on their first test and those who migrate to the 9-plus threshold from a lower one.”
Courtemanche, Hodach and the study-s other authors recommended that provider organizations take two important steps to improve their ability to help their patients better manage their diabetes:
Use advanced analytics to identify and monitor the health status of the entire population, not just those patients with poorly controlled diabetes based on their A1C score.
Proactively reach out to their entire population between office visits so patients waiting too long to get retested are motivated to have the testing done earlier. This process can be expedited with automated population health management technology.
The authors believe that this more comprehensive, total population approach would produce greater clinical and financial results, especially for those provider organizations that are focused on quality and value-based payment models and are operating patient centered medical home (PCMH) and accountable care organizations (ACO).
The premier company empowering physician-led population health improvement, Phytel provides physicians with proven technology to deliver timely, coordinated care to their patients. Phytel-s state-of-the-art registry, which now encompasses more than 30 million patients nationwide, uses evidence-based chronic and preventive care protocols to identify and notify patients due for service, while tracking compliance and measuring quality and financial results. For more information, please visit . Follow us on and find us on .
Amendola Communications for Phytel
Todd Stein
916.346.4213
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